From large-scale dam-building to unbridled resource-exploitation, human activity is causing serious damage to Himalayan ecosystems. While all the countries in the region are culpable to some extent, none is doing as much harm as China.

Flash floods and glacier melting and glacial lakes can cause Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) that carry moraines to the lower part of the river and the river bed becomes shallow. Stone, mud and sand cover a vast area along the river. The areas covered by moraine and sand along the Brahmaputra River from Tibet to Assam are expanding every year.

“I do believe that Americans, and we who are policymakers in all branches of government, should be concerned about mounting evidence that indicates that something is happening.” — John McCain discussing climate change.

The climate opinion map, published earlier this month, depicts estimates of the percentage of Americans, aged 25 and over, who have particular beliefs, attitudes and policy preferences on global warming. The information comes from a large national survey dataset of 22,000 people which was collected between 2008 and 2018.

A new World Bank report, South Asia’s Hotspots, finds that average temperatures in the region have increased in the last sixty years and will continue rising. Eight hundred million South Asians are at risk to see their standards of living and incomes decline as rising temperatures and more erratic rainfalls will cut down crop yields, make water more scare, and push more people away from their homes to seek safer places.